Four years ago this Christmas, I was quickly and anxiously tearing open a perfectly wrapped present and excitedly pulling out my very first Playstation along with a game called MTV Music Generator. It wasn’t much of a surprise to me because I had been nagging my parents all year for it, but it was an awesome gift; something that would help pass the time away as I eagerly waited to finish high school and move on to my life-long dream of becoming a meteorologist. There was no way that I could not have known that the gift I wanted so badly, (just to pass the time away) would soon completely change the direction in which I took my life.

As I began using MTV Music Generator more and more, I realized, through the comments of my friends and family that I had somewhat of a talent for writing music. It was at that time that I started to intensely analyze the few dance music albums that I owned and break down and study song structure in my head. By doing this I quickly picked up on the basics and was able to apply them to my own music. However, I continued to view music as just a pastime, and my music reflected that feeling. It’s only been in the past few months that I have come to realize what an amazing gift God has blessed me with and what an enormous responsibility I have.

God has graced us all with a different ability; anything from caring for the elderly to being an amazing artist or from being good at math to being good at taking care of and entertaining children. And as every day goes by, I come to realize more and more just how important it is that we use our gifts and perfect what God has started in us.

I remember once when I was little, I wanted a train set so bad! I begged my parents to buy me a train set for Christmas and on December 25th I eagerly awaited the time when we would open our presents. The time finally came and the first thing my parents let me open was a brand new wooden train set!!! I quickly dropped everything I had been doing so I could play with my train set and ran out of the room screaming with excitement. I was pumped! My parents had smiles on their faces knowing that I was definitely pleased with the gift they had given me. When it came time for me to put my train set together, however, I faced difficulty. As a kid, I expected everything to work straight out of the box, but I soon discovered that that wasn’t the case.

My extreme happiness soon turned to extreme frustration as I sat on the floor in my room trying to put the train set together by myself. When someone tried to come in and help me I screamed and cried grabbing all of the pieces and trying to do it on my own. When I finally saw that this new gift of mine was going to take some time to put together, I gave up on it altogether. My parents were understandably discouraged and somewhat frustrated.

I believe God reacts the same way as my parents did when He sees us realize and receive our gifts. I am sure He is thrilled to see us accept His plans for us with open arms and excitement. But far too often, we begin to realize how much responsibility and work our gifts need and we become discouraged and either give up completely or only put in half as much work as we should.

Our gifts are not just something we are good at or a way for us to feel good about ourselves; they are jobs that God has given us in order for us to effectively reach out to others. At this point in my life, I feel that is it my job that I perfect my musical skills and prepare myself for whatever is in store for the future. However, if somewhere down the road of life I uncover a hidden gift that is greater than my musical abilities, I will strive to perfect it. It is my duty to work hard, get torn down by critics - only to rebuild stronger, and perfect what God has entrusted in me. And it is only through maturing in faith that we can effectively combine our gifts and our faith to be powerful instruments in this world.